ARIZONA-OKLAHOMA STATE: Scoreless after two... Wildcats with runners on first and second with two out in the top of the third... Strikeout swinging to end the threat... Skipping ahead to the top of the fifth, Arizona's postseason trademark -- the long ball -- gave the Wildcats a 2-1 lead, as Sharlize Palacios slugged a two-run homer to left (video)... The Cowgirls countered, however, with a three-run shot from Karli Petty (video) in the bottom of the sixth to take a 4-2 lead... U of A now down to its final three outs in the top of the seventh... Leadoff single for Wildcats... K for first out... Another K for second out... Cats down to final strike on 1-2 count... K to end game... Cowgirl pitcher Kelly Maxwell -- still blowing 69 mph fastballs by Arizona hitters in the top of the seventh -- finishes with 14 strikeouts.
OREGON STATE-FLORIDA: The evening session is just underway, with Oregon State now batting as the visiting team and Florida in the field as the home team... Beavers' Xiao Gin with a one-out double to the wall in right... After another out, Frankie Hammoude singles in Gin for 1-0 Oregon State lead... Nothing further for Beavers in the inning... Gators get their first batter on base on deep chopper to third for infield hit... Thrown out trying to steal second (pending review, likely on whether UF fielder blocked second base before receiving throw from catcher)... Original call upheld, so one out for Florida and nobody on... Single up the middle... K for second out... Grounder to end Gators' half of the first... Walk and a single (runner advancing to second) to open up top of second for Beavers... Next batter bunts into a no-person's-land area on left side of infield to load bases with none out... UF pitching change... Fly out on a straight line to right-fielder, no runners advance... K for second out... Shot to 2B-person, fielded on one hop, batter out at first... Beavers miss golden opportunity... Leadoff single for Florida on short fly to right-center just out of reach of Oregon State outfielder... Single up the middle for next batter (runner to second)... Chopper to 1B for first out, runners to second and third... Line shot to 3B for second out; runner narrowly gets back to avoid being doubled off... Hard grounder down 1B line looked like it would yield third out, but 1B-person can't snare it, leading to two-run single. 2-1 UF... Nothing further for Gators... Florida opens lead up to 5-1, batting in the bottom of the fifth... 7-1 Florida is the final...
NORTHWESTERN-OKLAHOMA: Game 2 of Thursday afternoon play is underway... Scoreless as the Sooners bat in the bottom of the first... Nothing for OU... Scoreless after two complete... Wildcat slugger Rachel Lewis parks one over the left-field wall (video) for a 1-0 Northwestern lead in top of third... Back-to-back walks keep NU inning alive with two outs... Fly to left ends threat... OU's Rylie Boone leads off bottom of third with double to right-center... Jana Johns singles in Boone to tie game, 1-1... Jayda Coleman with another single, bringing up all-time career home-run leader Jocelyn Alo... Wild pitch moves runners to second and third... 3-0 count, as NU seems to be giving Alo an "unintentional intentional walk"... Bases loaded, still none out... Tiare Jennings with grand-slam (video), 5-1 OU... Infield single to deep short, as Sooner hit parade continues... Deep fly for first out... Walk to put runners on first and second... Foul pop for second out... Boone, batting for second time this inning, singles up the middle to make it 6-1... Fly to left to end Sooner rally... Northwestern was a great comeback team in the super-regionals vs. Arizona State, but can they repeat this against OU? The emphatic answer -- for today, anyway -- is no. Oklahoma takes it 13-2...
TEXAS-UCLA: The 2022 WCWS is underway, as UCLA's Megan Faraimo pitches to Texas's Janae Jefferson... Longhorns with an early threat, as two-out single (plus misplay by left-fielder) puts runners on second and third... Strike-out swinging leaves UT empty-handed... Bruins get one-out double to the wall in bottom of first... Next batter with shallow bloop single to center, runner out at the plate, batter takes second on throw home. Now two outs... Fly to left ends inning... Both teams with some offensive output in the first, but no scoring... Longhorns strike first in the top of the third on a single, steal of second base, and throwing error to first on a bunt, 1-0 Texas (pending replay review, apparently regarding whether batter ran outside of proper lane on way to first and thus interfered with 1B-person)... UCLA challenge is upheld, so batter declared out at first, runner sent back to second, and run taken off the board... Texas quickly retakes a 1-0 lead on Mia Scott triple off the wall in center (her second hit of the day)... Sharp line single to left makes it 2-0 Horns... Mary Iakopo with two-run blast to left (video) to increase Texas lead to 4-0... UCLA pitching change, with Holly Azevedo replacing Faraimo... No further damage... Longhorns open bottom of third defensively with five-person infield (relocating right-fielder) vs. UCLA slap-hitter; UT gets the out on chopper to third... One-out single for Bruins... Double-play to end inning, as 2B-person Jefferson fields grounder, tags runner going to second, and throws to first to retire batter... Top 4: Two-out Jefferson single followed by Scott double make it 5-0... Scott now with an infield single in first, triple in third, and double in fourth -- just a homer away from the cycle! Nothing further for UT in fourth... UCLA goes quietly in bottom of fourth... Bella Dayton two-run homer in top of sixth makes it 7-0 Texas... Mia Scott comes up, just a homer shy of the cycle. Bunts for a base-hit and goes all the way to third on errant UCLA throw... No further scoring for UT in the sixth... Bottom 6: Delanie Wisz socks one-out two-run homer to get Bruins on the board, now 7-2 Longhorns... Nothing further for UCLA in the inning... Nor anything for the Bruins in the seventh. Game over: 7-2 Texas... Oklahoma-Northwestern next...